The Kansas City Chiefs are 3-0. If you’re a Chiefs fan, that’s good.
If you’re a fantasy football manager, however, you may be panicking. That is if you have Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce on your team, who has been practically non-existent on the stat sheet the first three weeks of the season. Let’s look at his slow start and when managers could see Kelce return to prolific production.
Travis Kelce’s Slow Start to the 2024 Season
Through three games, Kelce has just eight receptions for 69 yards with no touchdowns. To put into perspective how slow of a start that is to the season, Kelce has 32 games in his career with at least eight receptions and 69 yards.
According to TruMedia, Kelce has just a 66.7% reception percentage through three games this season. That’s tied for 86th among all pass catchers in the NFL. He’s also tied for 99th in the NFL with his longest reception going for 23 yards. That catch was in Week 1 against the Baltimore Ravens.
the face of everyone who drafted Travis Kelce in fantasy pic.twitter.com/Ebl9FwMZhN
— Yahoo Fantasy Sports (@YahooFantasy) September 23, 2024
Rodney Harrison of “Football Night in America” said after the game on Peacock’s “Sunday Night Football Final” that Kelce’s off-the-field endeavors could be impacting his on-field performance to start the season. While he mentioned the job Atlanta Falcons safety Jessie Bates III and the rest of the Falcons secondary did against Kelce on Sunday night, he spoke heavily about Kelce potentially being distracted by his life off the field.
On the field, though, there are other reasons why Kelce is off to a slow start. Second-year wide receiver Rashee Rice had his second 100-yard game of the season, and he also had a season-high 12 catches at Atlanta. Rice also has two touchdowns over the Chiefs’ last two weeks, so he very much looks like quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ favorite target right now.
Kelce’s Fantasy Outlook for the Rest of the Season
Kelce and the Chiefs have two games remaining before their bye week. Next week, they’ll face the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium. They’ll then host the New Orleans Saints on “Monday Night Football” in Week 5.
Over his last 10 seasons, Kelce has never finished with fewer than 67 receptions in a season. In the six seasons he has played with Mahomes, he has never had fewer than 92 receptions in a season. In addition, Kelce had seven straight 1,000-yard seasons before falling just short with 984 in 2023.
But so far this season, Kelce is off to a slow start to say the least.
Travis Kelce's lowest average yards traveled per play in a single game since 2016, per @NextGenStats:
'24 W3: 14.6
'23 W5: 14.2
'19 W7: 14.2
'24 W2: 14.1
'16 W6: 14.1Two games from the first three weeks of the 2024 season. https://t.co/cv2cQ6uvTb
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) September 23, 2024
Speaking of the Chargers, Kelce has, historically, played well against them. Per TruMedia, Kelce has averages of 5.6 receptions for 76.1 yards and 0.67 touchdown since 2018 against the Chargers.
In last year’s game against the Chargers, in Kansas City, Kelce caught 12 passes for 179 yards and a touchdowns. In 2022, in a road game against the Chargers, Kelce caught six passes for 115 yards and three touchdowns. That followed a 2021 road game at the Chargers where Kelce caught 10 passes for 191 yards and the game-winning touchdown in overtime.
This should offer hope to fantasy managers that a big performance from Kelce could be coming next week. It’s hard for a player as great as Kelce to be held in check for a long period of time.
Mahomes acknowledged after the game Sunday night that he hasn’t played well yet this season. Once he gets going, you know who he is going to target the most. The bigger the game, the better Mahomes and Kelce play well together.
Luckily for fantasy managers with Kelce on their teams, the Chiefs have plenty of big games left on their schedule. Considering his performances against the Chargers in recent seasons, Kelce could bounce back, from a fantasy standpoint, as soon as next Sunday.